The invention relates generally to a facility for manipulating commodities.
More particularly, the invention relates to a facility having an arrangement for determining the weights of commodities. If necessary or expedient, the facility may be provided with a pricing device which can transfer weight data to commodities ready for shipment and/or with a central processor which can perform bookkeeping functions. The pricing unit may include a printer for printing price labels.
As a rule, facilities such as plants have a plurality of scales for weighing arriving goods and parts as well as the finished goods and parts produced therefrom. Each scale is provided with an indicator which can be read by an operator. The operator can thus read the weight data obtained by the scale and either retain or forward the data. The weight data can be retained by making a note thereof. Forwarding of the weight data can be accomplished by typing the data into a computer or a central processor. A pricing device in the form of a printer of price labels can be associated with the computer or the central processor. In the event that the weight data are entered in a central processor, these data can also be retained in the processor for bookkeeping purposes.
The scales require a large number of personnel and, in addition, can give rise to many errors because there is no assurance that all of the weighing procedures will be detected. In order to detect all of the weighing procedures, it has accordingly been proposed to directly connect all of the scales with the central processor. However, the installation remains very large and expensive since each scale retains its own indicator and must be individually calibrated.